Rich leads Tuscola baseball to monumental win

Apr. 24—Tuscola baseball stayed hot on Tuesday night, earning arguably their biggest win of the season thus far with a 4-0 victory over the West Henderson Falcons.

"We challenged our kids and they responded," Tuscola coach Zack Shepherd said. "They knew what was on the line. We told them, 'All you can do is compete and control what you can control.' We did that. We played a pretty clean game."

Coming into the game West Henderson was the No. 4 team in the 3A West RPI rankings. They held a record of 16-2 with a perfect 8-0 record in conference play. In 10 of their 16 wins, the Falcons have mercy-ruled their opponents. On top of all of that, the Falcons are the reigning 3A state champions.

So, there was no doubt that the deck was stacked against the Mountaineers, but with the home-field advantage, Tuscola was able to pull through.

"The atmosphere tonight was awesome," Shepherd said. "There were a lot of people here. It felt like a playoff game, and the kids responded."

The victorious effort was led by sophomore pitcher Amos Rich, who Shepherd describes as a "special player."

"You've just got to be confident and feel it," Rich said. "Even though they're a big-name school and a big-name team, we've just got to play with confidence and get it done."

Rich started the game on the mound for the Mounties as their ace and went the distance, saving valuable arms for Thursday's rematch at West Henderson.

"It was outstanding. It sets you up," Shepherd said. "You have every pitcher available on the team and then you get a guy to go out and give you 105 (pitch) complete game shutout. Now, we have every other pitcher on the team available for Thursday, which sets us up beautifully. It allows us to really be strategic."

The sophomore's performance was something to marvel at. Against a team that is averaging 9.5 runs per game, Rich threw seven full innings, allowing just one hit and no runs, while walking three (two of which came in the seventh inning).

Through the first three innings, Rich faced the minimum number of batters. In that third inning, he struck out the side.

It seemed the vast majority of the lineup did not have an answer for the sophomore. Of the 21 outs Rich recorded on the mound, 14 came via a strikeout.

"He had a good feel for all three of his pitches tonight — his fastball, changeup, curveball," Shepherd said. "In some counts, they'd be sitting curveball and he'd come with the fastball. Then, you could tell they were sitting right on the fastball and he'd come back with the curveball. Coach (Layton) Penland, our pitching coach, called a whale of a game. Amos believed in him. Evan believed in him. They just went out and excited."

The Mountaineers also recorded two more outs without a batter putting a ball in play. Those came courtesy of junior catcher Evan Conner's arm throwing runners out at second.

"He's a competitor. He's been back there since his freshman year, so there's not a moment too big for him," Shepherd said. "This is when we're starting to see the maturation we were talking about at the beginning of the year. We've had these kids two or three years in the program now and we're starting to see that they're battle-tested. The moment is not too big."

The first runs of the game came across in the bottom of the third. After a walk for junior Kolt Nelson and a single for senior Noah Stepp, Rich stepped to the plate.

The sophomore smoked a ball to deep left field. As the outfielder attempted to make a play, he clattered into the fence. The ball found the grass, and Rich hustled around to third, sending both runners in to score.

Tuscola added on to the lead in the following inning.

Senior Jed West led the inning off with a double before advancing to third on a bad throw. Two batters later, sophomore Mason Harrell reached on an error, allowing West to push the score to 3-0.

Freshman Bo West kept the rally going with a single into right field. It was the left fielder's first of two hits on the night — the only Mountaineer to record multiple base knocks on the evening.

"I love it," Shepherd said. "He's a competitor too. He does a great job of going up there and just being Bo West. He doesn't try to do too much. He just knows that he has to put the ball on the ground. He's got great hitters behind him and can use his speed."

Nelson followed that up with a single of his own, sending Harrell in from third for the fourth and final run of the game.

The rest of the way, Rich locked down the Falcons — allowing just one base runner via error in the fifth and no runners in the sixth.

In top the of the seventh, Rich came out red hot, striking out senior Truitt Manuel, the first batter he faced.

He then walked a batter, who Conner promptly threw out as they attempted to steal second.

After one more walk, Rich put a bow on his masterful performance with a closing strikeout.

Now, the Mounties turn their attention to Thursday's rematch at West Henderson.

"The challenge is big," Shepherd said. "We know what's coming Thursday. Truitt's coming. It's a special arm. We've seen him for four years now, but we're going to get in the box and compete."

Manuel is an NC State commit that has dominated opponents this season. So far this season, the senior has thrown 28.1 innings over eight appearances, allowing just 11 hits, four runs and eight walks, while striking out 60.

There is an upside for the Mounties, however. After not allowing a run in his first five appearances (including two no-hitters through five and six innings), Manuel has allowed four in his last three games. That stretch was kickstarted when Pisgah scored two on him at the end of March.

Tuesday's win will also give the Mountaineers plenty of confidence heading into Thursday's match-up — a game that will likely decide the winner of the Mountain 7 this season. If Tuscola wins, they clinch the crown, but a loss would leave West Henderson in the driver's seat going into its series against North Henderson next week.

"It makes 100% of a difference for Thursday," Rich said. "With that confidence rolling over, we know that we can beat them now and it makes us feel so much better for Thursday."